symbol

The symbols in literature play a very key role. Aside from just acting as an image of a characteristic in a work, they also offer a look into the feeling and mood of the work. The vividness of the images can allow the reader to almost feel the emotion of a work, not just see it.

Setting

Setting plays an enormous role in literature; no doubt about it. It sometimes won't matter what the lines are, but rather where they are said. The setting gives the reader a picture of the world around the characters. This visuality is evident in works like Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice. Whether in a massive royal estate or in just a massive estate, these strong settings create a vivid image in the reader's head of the world around their characters.

Character

Characters obviously are the center pieces in any story. They provide the backbone to the story. Depending upon what kind of story you are reading, the role they play can differ. For example, in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The characters play roles of extreme opposition of each other, whereas in pride and prejudice, the characters tend to, despite their differences, eventually find ways to coexist. Such characters include Darcy and Elizabeth, who started out hating each other, but eventually got married. In Hamlet. Hamlet and Claudius hate each other in the beginning, and end up hating each other to the point of killing each other at the end

fiction v. drama plot

The main difference in plot between fiction and drama is the climax. In Hamlet, we see the classic pyramid design, whereas in a fiction novel like Pride and prejudice, we don't quite see that. In PandP, we see rather a continuous flow of similar conflicts until the very end when all tides turn entirely, whereas Hamlet has the classic pyramid.

improvements for essays

I have to continue to work on developing ideas earlier. I still tend to be to general at the beginning and eventually get to the heart of the essay. Probably starting drafts earlier will get that aspect a little more solid.

Intro paragraph

How we view our heroes can change from case to case, and as time wears on. Athlete dying young and Ulysses incorporate this idea into the poems. The way we have always viewed our heroes is as people who can't die, and are never tarnished; yet, in these two poems we see exactly that. Our young athlete was at the top of his game, and at the height of his life when he was struck down dead in his prime. In Ulysses, Odysseus is left to live to long, and is a mere shell of the heroic character he was in the Odyssey. While it may be uncomfortable to examine, both poems do look at tarnished heroes, giving the reader an alternate view to what we normally see in our heroes.

Two poems

The two poems we read today in class offered an interesting contrast between heroes and time. One provides the thought that one hero died too young, while the second poem states that odysseus has survived too long. Both basically ask which is better, to die while on top, or live long past your prime. Both seem to show the negative in both. It pretty much left me with the thought that fate is fate, and where your life goes and ends takes its course, and we are along for the ride.

Ozymandias V. ponder

The two poems obviously are using time as a reference to life. They each have a different message about time though. Ozymandias uses the idea that time eventually turns all memories to dust. It tells the reader that with time comes loss of what happened in the past. Ponder has much cruder interpretation. It simply points out that time is running out for those who have it, so it is time to get to "sideways business." It doesn't really go into the deeper meanings of time like Ozymandias does, instead just points out that time is running out.